Whitespotted snake moray, Uropterygius
alboguttatus Smith, 1962; originally described by J.L.B. Smith from
Assumption Island in the Seychelles, this little moray was previously confused
with a similar species, the yellowtail snake moray, U.
xanthopterus.

Chequered damselfish, Chromis
chrysura (Bliss, 1883); photographed at Leadsman Shoal by Dennis King;
previously known in the Western Indian Ocean only from Mauritius and Réunion;
also reported from the western Pacific.

Yellowfin damsefish, Chromis leucura Gilbert, 1905; collected at Sodwana and photographed at Leadsman Shoal by Dennis
King; previously known in the Western Indian Ocean only from the Maldives,
Mauritius and Réunion; also recorded from the western-central
Pacific.

Spotty blenny, Laiphognathus
multimaculatus Smith, 1955; previously known from Inhaca to New Guinea and
Solomon Ids.

Long snout
hawkfish,Cirrhitichthys guichenoti (Sauvage, 1880); collected at
Aliwal Shoal; previously known from only 4 specimens caught at Mauritius and
Réunion.

Squaretail rabbitfish, Siganus
luridus (Rüppell, 1829); photographed by Dennis King at Aliwal Shoal,
previously known from the Indo-West Pacific region, south to Beira,
Mozambique.

FISH
DISTRIBUTIONS

In addition to the exciting discoveries
from our fish collecting efforts, we are also learning more about our fish
distributions from the diver-members and underwater photographers who are
playing an active role in the Project. The following species, previously known
from Durban or Sodwana Bay, are now documented from Aliwal Shoal and the
KwaZulu-Natal South Coast:

ADDITIONAL RECENT
DISCOVERIES

RARE FISHES:

The rare sandy filefish, Thamnaconus
arenaceus, was caught by novice diver and Rhodes Student Ntobeko Bacela on a
fish collection dive at Aliwal Shoal. Ntobeko’s fish is only the fourth known
specimen of this rare species, and the 2nd specimen to be found in
South African waters. The live colours of the sandy filefish were previously
unknown.

Whitespotted electric ray, Narcine sp., this electric ray appears to be new (undescribed); it was recently
photographed north of Durban by Dennis King. It was first recorded from South
Africa by Stefania Lamberti’s photo of a specimen on Protea Banks.

The blackcap wrasse, Thalassoma genivittatum (Valenciennes, 1839), was previously known
only from Aliwal and the Mascarene Islands (Mauritius & Réunion), but Piet
Strauss recently gave us a photo that he took at Ponta do Ouro,
Mozambique.

The grass klipfish, Pavoclinus
graminis is usually found in weed in tidepools; we collected it at 27 m on
Deep Cracker Reef at Aliwal.

NEW (IMPROVED)
WORKSHEETS

The financial support provided by Sappi to the Project was greatly increased
this year, and this essential funding allows us to develop the fish survey work
and enables the East Coast Fish-Watch Project to produce more benefits to the
members.The Fish-Watch method of using waterproof
worksheets with colour paintings of South African fishes to identify the species
in our area is proving very effective as a teaching and learning strategy to
help divers identify the various species of our diverse fish fauna. Once they
can put a name on a fish, they can then talk about it, learn more about it, and
get to know its habits. This increased knowledge provides a greater awareness
and appreciation of our fascinating fish diversity, makes SCUBA diving more
interesting, and is essential to the understanding and wise use of our fish
resources.Unlike our first three Worksheets, which
were printed on paper and then laminated; our latest Worksheets (Nos. 4, 5, 6
& 7) have been printed directly on pvc plastic by Cardtronic, and this
should provide a more durable Worksheet that will hold up better in the rough
and tumble environment of dive boats, equipment bags and under the
sea.